RCCIWA are preparing their submission to contribute to the Regional Air Fares Inquiry that the Economic and Industry Standing Committee are currently conducting. Submissions are due by July 28th and we encourage all of our members to contribute a submission as this is a crucial issue for so many regional business communities.

The cost of air fares within Western Australia has been an issue of concern for all of our members with regional airports for many years. The steep prices and unreliable schedules have proven to be an inhibitor to business growth and specifically impacts heavily on business travel, the tourism market and the opportunities for growth in desitination events and conferences. We are all too aware that we are competing with extremely cheap overseas destinations such as Bali and if we are to make our regional towns and cities genuinely attractive for holiday makers and business travellers from within our state as well as interstate and overseas , the prices of air travel must come down.

It is important that all regional communities with airports contribute to the inquiry to ensure that all issues and concerns are heard.

The Committee will evaluate the:

• Factors contributing to the current high cost of regional airfares
• Impacts that high-cost regional airfares have on regional centres - from a business, tourism and social perspective
• Impacts of State Government regulatory processes on the cost and efficiency of regional air services
• Actions that the State and Local Government Authorities can take to limit increases to airfares without undermining the commerical viability of RPT services
• Actions that airlines can take to limit increases to airfares without undermining the commercial viability of RPT services
• Recent actions taken by other Australian governments to limit regional RPT airfare increases

We look forward to receiving input and feedback from all of our affected members as we work on contributing a robust and practical submission that will hopefully influence postive change.